City will be ‘left behind if plans for apartments are rejected’
Readers voice backing for Landmark deveLoPment
FEARS have been raised that Derby will “get left behind” if plans for a 17-storey apartment complex in the city centre are rejected.
Derby City Council’s planning committee is due to vote on the scheme, known as The Landmark, tonight.
And, as reported by the Derby Telegraph last week, a report prepared by the authority’s planning officers has recommended the scheme be refused.
Since then, people have taken to social media to give their views on the £24 million development, which would be built on the Phoenix Street surface car park.
Many who have commented believe the scheme should be approved.
One of them, Sturam, wrote: “Derby is doomed unless something changes. We need councillors who are commercially minded, listen to business and can push the city forward.
“We will get left behind, the city centre will fall flat on its face, youngsters will leave for London or Nottingham, and people who rallied against Derby changing will breathe a sigh of relief and think ‘job done.’”
Another, Scott2, wrote: “People need places to live and this is supposed to be a city, not a market town. Our planners seem determined to ensure half the city Plans have been submitted to Derby City Council for a 17-storey apartment block, The Landmark. ends up with nowhere they can afford to live by blocking half the proposals for anything more than a couple of houses.”
Thai Ram posted: “While the impact on other buildings argument is listened to, Derby will continue to fall behind. It’s time to get out of the past.”
But some are supportive of the recommendation. Reader Dianeb wrote: “The developers can do better than this – something that is a landmark in a good way.
“Maybe something of similar height with similar number of apartments to rent – but better quality, well designed, imaginative. That’s all the things this proposal isn’t.”
Since Godwin Developments submitted its application to the city council to build The Landmark it has polarised opinion.
At 54 metres high, the building would contain 202 apartments. Regeneration officials argue the scheme will provide much-needed “build to rent” homes in the city centre, while giving the city an economic boost.
But bodies, including The Victorian Society and Historic England, have objected because of its design and the impact it could have on surrounding historical buildings, including Derby Cathedral.
However, Derby Cathedral is “unanimously supportive”, arguing that the impact would be “very limited”.. MPS have demanded a “minister for hunger” be appointed by the Government to tackle hunger and malnutrition affecting millions, including children, in the UK.
The Environmental Audit Committee said it was “concerned that an item as significant as hunger and food insecurity in the UK has fallen between the cracks”. There is a “doughnut-shaped hole” in domestic attempts to meet a UN-set goal of zero hunger and malnutrition by 2030, it warns.
The committee called for the new post to oversee a crossGovernment plan to tackle food insecurity, which is defined as “limited access to food... due to lack of money or other resources”.
Committee chair, Labour’s Mary Creagh, warned that while many are still recovering from Christmas excess, “the sad fact is that more children are growing up in homes where parents don’t have enough money to put food on the table”.